Editorial: Fond Hopes For New Year? Just Be Practical

As we charge full bore into the New Year, some of us do so, no doubt, with freshly harvested resolutions, and if not, at least with hopes and dreams. If we just try to be practical we will realize that there are things we can do something about to effect change and things about which we can do nothing.

For example, if we want to stop theft or killing or child abuse, then we must change the attitude of people, and attitudes don’t usually change very fast—at least not fast enough to make a big difference in one year.

We might wish for a faster resolution of problems caused by Hurricane Katrina, but we know now there is a lot more to it than just the availability of money. It seems there is a not-so-hidden agenda to remold New Orleans to retain what still appeals to some and to eliminate what others find unappealing. The book is still being written.

Climate is another area where humanity is virtually helpless when it tries to effect change. It could be that the jury is still out on that one as well; experts are still squabbling about it. A leading Danish statistician, a skeptic about climate change, was compared recently to Hitler. However, the skeptic said his point of view has pretty much ruled the day, as “nations are actually doing very little about climate change.” The focus of the debate seems to be global warming. Even the Danish skeptic agrees it is taking place but questions what can be done about it. (Pollution is a different matter, and we should endeavor not to pollute.)

We could hope for an end to the eight-year drought that has all but shut down Missouri River transportation. With all of the news about storms in the Northwest and sweeping into the Midwest, one would think perhaps levels on the main stem reservoirs would be back to normal, but the prediction for the end of 2007 indicated they would still be considerably below what we hoped for. Forecasters said it would take several years of abnormally heavy snowpack to get the reservoirs back to normal. The work of Mother Nature is not our prerogative. The drought will end when it ends.

Some industry people may have dreams about river traffic and hopes that it will increase with the ethanol-plant construction. But as we indicated in recent weeks, the wave is subsiding and many new plants are on hold. Some that are new have not been put into operation. Corn production has risen dramatically with this wave, but with a shortage of soybeans and higher prices, we find that more acreage will be put into beans this year. It’s the age-old rule of supply and demand.

Still on the subject of energy, we find increasing support for the construction of nuclear plants as an alternative source. If nuclear plants come into vogue, it could ultimately impact the quantity of coal we utilize to produce electricity; that could also impact coal tonnage on the river. (The Three-Mile Island “near meltdown” in 1979 and the Chernobyl disaster in 1986 brought a dramatic halt to this country’s nuclear expansion plans. The Associated Press reports that more than 100 nuclear plants generate 20 percent of the nation’s electricity, but the last plant was ordered in 1973.) Nevertheless, it takes years to plan and build nuclear plants, and demand for electricity continues to grow.

What we can do in 2008 is find encouragement in the continuing activity in the marine industry as new customers find ways to make use of low-cost barge transportation. Such growth results from many years of hard work by industry leaders as they strive to open up new vistas. These are not fast, overnight solutions to healthy growth, but if the towing industry keeps doing what it does best—move cargoes at less cost—prospects for continued future growth will remain strong.

Earlier we mentioned how tough it is to change attitudes. What would be significantly helpful to the marine industry, however, would be an attitude change among the hierarchy of the U.S. Coast Guard, which has virtually life/death control over this private industry. All too often, it seems, the overriding drive of the Coast Guard is to punish rather than to help the industry run more safely and more smoothly. The Coast Guard’s administrative law judge system and its manhandling of marine license holders must be brought to an end.

The Coast Guard rejects this view and insists its motives and operations are squeaky clean. Industry knows differently. This is a New Year’s wish we can do something about. Congress should pass legislation to take the towing-industry licensing operations out of the hands of the Coast Guard—a policing agency incapable of policing itself.

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